After a lacklustre summer for the club's intermediate side, there was some consolation for Castletown Gaels when the Under 16s claimed the Division 3 title with a victory over Clann na Gael in July. A selector on that team was Colm Smyth, who speaks about the club's year. Castletown, having dropped down to the intermediate grade in 1992, endured an extremely disappointing 1999 at adult level, failing to qualify for the knockout stages after the semi-final defeat of the previous year. It was a different story at underage level, however, as the club built on their successes of recent years to take the under 16 crown in a pulsating final at Dunderry in July. Castletown had claimed the under 17 title in '96, before seizing the under 12 and under 21 competitions the following year. And in 1998 the club's under 14 side defeated Ballinlough in the final of the Division 3 League. Castletown met Clann na Gael, an Enfield/Baconstown amalgam, in the 1999 under 16 decider. The Clans were aided by the strong breeze in the opening period, but were unable to convert many decent opportunities, and after twenty minutes were only two points to the good, at 0-3 to 0-1. After that, Castletown took control, with goals from Alan Curran and James Finnerty just before half time giving them a 2-4 to 0-4 advantage at the interval. Soon after the restart, another goal and a point put them ten points clear, and seemingly sailing to the clubs first ever success at the grade in their 103-year history. But as the leaders went into cruise control, Clann na Gael launched a momentous comeback to almost deprive Castletown of the title. In the last minute, with Castletown holding a slender two-point advantage, Clann na Gael hit a post when a goal would have given them certain victory. The final score read 3-7 to 2-8 in Castletown's favour, with the excellent full forward line of Curran and Finnerty contributing all but 1-3 of the final tally. Club chairman Colm Smyth, who was a selector for the under 16 side this year beside Pat Ginnity and team manager Tony Kearney, says that outright victory was not expected when the team began the under 16 campaign at the beginning of the summer. "I didn't think they had a chance, to be honest," he says frankly. "The team was very light, and made up by many of the under 14s of last year, so I felt it was going to be very difficult to make an impression in a very tough competition." Without a doubt, the Division 3 competition was, on paper at least, a difficult one to win. Among the opponents Castletown encountered were Kilmainhamwood, Syddan and Navan O'Mahony's second string in the group stages, all sides with a fine underage pedigree. Indeed, O'Mahonys managed to defeat Castletown by nine points in the group after being nine points in arrears at one stage in the match. Nobber topped the group, but Castletown qualified comfortably in second place. In the quarter-final, the north-Meath outfit sauntered to a facile victory over Moynalvey on the scoreline of 6-13 to 1-1. When the competition warmed up at the semi-final stage, Castletown raised a gear to overcome the Bective/Dunderry combination by eight points, 2-9 to 1-4, before that epic final win over Clann na Gael. Colm says that the talent is in the area to help the club at adult level over the coming years, but that expert coaching will be needed to aid the youngsters progress from promising children to consistent clubmen. As the introduction to the juvenile section of the clubs excellent production (100 Years of Castletown GFC, 1896-1996) reads: "The most important part of any football club must surely be its juvenile section. It is these young hopefuls who must be nurtured in order to have committed players for the future." Colm, who with his wife Barbara compiled this highly informative book to mark the centenary of the club, can see the need to develop the talents of underage players even more so now that the clubs adult side has fallen on hard times. "There is plenty of ability in Castletown," he stresses, "but the problem is getting enough people to look after the underage teams, to manage them and coach them in the skills of the game. A lot of work is needed to keep that going, but I don't have a doubt in the world that the future will be bright for Castletown." The winning under 16 team of '99 is just one example of the potential that lies within the catchment area of the club. "Hopefully a good few of that team can keep together for the next few years, and progress on to adult level in the end. The goalkeeper Jason McConnell is a very sound player, and looks as if he may make a very good 'keeper in the future. Outfield, midfielder Martin Lynch, originally from the Stabannon Parnells club in county Louth, is as strong as an ox, no-one will push him off the ball too easily. Also full back Stephen Carry is a great player, very aggressive on the ball, and often bursts out of the backs with the ball. In the forwards, James Finnerty and Alan Curran were very good all year, while Cathal Smyth is a good player as well." Castletown gaels must hope that the successes at under 17 and under 21 levels in the past three years bear fruit in the coming seasons. Since the drop back to the intermediate grade in '92, the club have reached one final, losing to Simonstown by a single point in '95, and have twice exited at the semi-final stage, including in '98, when they were defeated by St. Patricks. The club is among the favourites every year for intermediate honours, but that confidence proved misplaced in 1999 when the side failed to qualify from its group, which included Ballivor, St. Michael's, Syddan and Drumconrath, and were relegated from Division 2 of the All-County 'A' League. Former All-Ireland runner-up with Galway, Brian Talty, who teaches in Artane in Dublin, coached the team for the last three weeks of the year, and Colm is resigned to the fact that gaelic football clubs must find a manager from outside the club in the future, if they are to compete for honours. "There's no point in denying it," he says, "its going to cost money to train teams in the future. We will have to have a rethink over the winter, and try to get things right for next year's championship." With their underage success to build upon, and players of the calibre of midfielder Liam Clarke to call upon, everyone from Castletown will hope that '98 was just a blip. A club with a rich tradition in gaelic football, it won it's first Meath senior championship back in 1902. Barbara Smyth optimistically earmarks the centenary of that initial triumph as the target to get back to winning ways in the county's senior championship, but they must first gain intermediate honours. For a club of this pedigree, that may not be too unrealistic. Tweet

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